Reconstruction
by Crionics
Summary: 6 months after "Rejuvenation", the war against the Sith - who now control both the Republic and the Chiss Ascendancy from behind the scenes - is approaching its climax. The Jedi discover a desperate plot being played out involving Sith alchemy and rituals and must join their allies in a race to stop them before it's too late.
1. Chapter 1

"That can't be it, Kaarffror. There's no one hailing us. Are you sure this is the right place?"

Helena brought up all the information on Vaynai that she could, confirming the coordinates given to them by the Jedi Council. It wasn't like the Council to screw up like this, so she immediately thought something must be wrong. Kaarffror growled out a retort back at her.

"Okay, okay, I get it," she replied defensively. "It's not your fault. But if this really _is_ Vaynai, then where are all the people? Surely someone's noticed a pair of Jedi Coalition X-Wings coming towards them by now. We've got our transponders blaring."

Kaarffror barked a suggestion that perhaps the holonet was completely down, but Helena was able to get the connection through to the dock authorities, the real problem was –

"No one's answering. There's nothing wrong with the 'net, here. It's gotta be something else."

Kaarffror then suggested that they take the X-Wings in for a landing anyway, regardless of whether or not they'd been permitted by anyone. He argued that if no one told them they couldn't land, then there was no problem.

"I suppose that makes sense, in a wookiee kinda way."

He replied with a comment about the wookiee way being the best way.

"Alright then," Helena laughed. "Let's do it the wookiee way. Stuff the dock authorities."

Kaarffror woofed an excited affirmation, then the two Jedi punched the throttle and descended towards the surface of the mostly water world.

On their way down, they immediately noticed that the Vaynai Archipelago was an unusual rusty-brown colour.

"Shouldn't that be a bit…I dunno, greener?"

The big wookiee answered that he wasn't sure, not having ever been to Vaynai before, but he assumed that being mainly a vacation spot that it would be counter-productive for it to be brown.

"I don't sense anything too unusual in the Force though. Perhaps we can't…I don't suppose there'd be much of a population on a world like this to actually be able to sense."

Kaarffror agreed that something wasn't right, and insisted they hurry.

After another few minutes they approached the planet's only spaceport, still without any contact from anyone, and set the X-Wings down next to some dilapidated old Corellian transports.

It had been six months since Jaina Solo had appeared to Kayla Talus, Devin Rokanh, Ferry Hekla and Helena Prudal, warning them that Liina Hriyek – the Jedi Order's Keeper of First Knowledge and head of the Jedi Academy – had found out something critical to their efforts to stop the Sith Emperor. That something had been a Sith Holocron the wookiees had been hiding on Kashyyyk, deep in the Shadowlands where it couldn't do any harm. The holocron had contained information on the history of Darth Bane's Rule of Two, all the way back to the Brotherhood of Darkness. It had also mentioned Emperor Vitiate's Sith Empire, which had lasted for more than a thousand years.

What had concerned Liina was that Vitiate had remained the Emperor the entire time, or so it appeared. There was nothing specific chronicling his actual lifespan; all she could tell was that he had been born more than five thousand years before the time of Jaina Solo, and died more than fifteen-hundred years later.

Jaina's warning that Liina would be looking in the wrong place had taken a long time for the Council to decipher. It was only recently that she'd discovered the information about Vitiate and had begun to try and dig up information on him when they'd remembered Jaina's advice to search on Vaynai. Kaarffror and Helena had subsequently been despatched to Vaynai to look for 'anything pertaining to the Sith'. Helena had thought the orders were a little vague until she set foot outside the spaceport.

The entire archipelago was brown. Leaves on trees had withered and dried, falling to the dried-up dead grasses below. Even the dirt seemed catastrophically uneventful, as if it was all completely artificial. Kaarffror sniffed at the air, remarking that it had no odour at all, as if like a sterile operating room in a hospital.

"This is all wrong, very wrong," Helena agreed. "I don't even _sense_ a single life form here, let alone see or hear one."

Kaarffror commented that the ocean had looked totally normal, and he could still sense life there, but couldn't sense anything at all from the islands either.

"Look at this place…it's like it's just had the life sucked out of it."

A whirring noise interrupted their musings, and Kaarffror pointed out a protocol droid approaching them from the dock. It made its way stiffly over to them, its chrome coverings totally filthy and dented in places.

"Good morning, I am eefour-pee-ell. Please allow me to be the first to welcome you to beautiful Vaynai. Can I be of any assistance to you?"

"Yes, actually, you can," Helena answered. "We're representatives of the Jedi Order. This is Kaarffror, and I'm Helena Prudal."

"Oh, my goodness!" the droid exclaimed, becoming flustered. "The Jedi Order! Yes, yes, your Order is well known, even to droids such as myself. What, may I ask, is the reason for your visit here? We don't often get Jedi visitors here on Vaynai."

Kaarffror barked a comment about Vaynai not appearing to have any visitors at all.

"Oh! That's Shyriiwook! I've never had an opportunity to use my knowledge of the wookiee languages before. Please excuse my excitement, I am well overdue for a memory wipe, you see."

"Who exactly would perform that kind of maintenance? There doesn't seem to be anyone around," Helena asked.

"That is a difficult question to answer, Jedi Prudal," the droid responded. "I can't seem to recall who I need to see about it. Actually, I don't recall how long it's been since I last had maintenance, either."

"Excuse my abruptness," Helena interrupted, eager to find out as much as she could, "but there's _no one_ here. How long has it been like this?"

The droid hesitated for a moment, as if trying to recall information that wasn't there.

"I'm terribly sorry, Jedi Prudal. I cannot remember exactly. My earliest memory is of four days ago. It appears that I have had a recent memory wipe."

Helena looked sceptically at Kaarffror, who folded his big wookiee arms across his massive chest and reminded the droid that it had told them it was overdue for a memory wipe.

"Yes, I did say that, didn't I?" the droid answered. "Perhaps I was given an unscheduled memory wipe?"

Helena impatiently rapped her fingers against her lightsaber hilt.

"Is there anyone else we can speak to?" she asked.

"Of course, Master Jedi," the droid happily announced. "If you'll follow me, please."

E4-PL led them back to the docks and into an office, where another protocol droid was busy monitoring a set of screens.

"Excuse me, eefour-pee-gee, we have some visitors from the Jedi Order who'd like to speak to you."

E4-PG turned around and regarded them in typical droid-like nonchalance. Helena and Kaarffror shared another uncertain look before introducing themselves again.

"Hello, eefour-pee-gee, I'm Helena Prudal and this is Kaarffror. We represent the Jedi Order."

"Welcome to beautiful Vaynai, Master Jedi," the droid repeated the basic greeting it and the other droid had obviously been programmed with. "How may I assist you?"

"We'd like to know where everyone is."

The droid hesitated, just like the other one had. Kaarffror became irritated then, and hurriedly asked the droid if it had any recollection of events prior to four days ago.

"Now that you mention it, no. It appears I have suffered some form of unscheduled memory wipe. How unusual."

"So what, you're just acting out your normal duties in the absence of any sentient life forms?" Helena asked.

"Our programming dictates that we should carry out our regular duties unless we are informed otherwise," the droid responded.

"Right…" Helena said with a raised eyebrow at Kaarffror. "Thankyou for your time. We won't inhibit your duties any further."

The two Jedi made their way back out towards the main population centre, and Helena tapped a few buttons on her wrist-comm.

"Tinman," she said, addressing her X-Wing's utility droid. "Take the ship and make a run over the entire archipelago, then another over the water. We need life form scans, air quality readings and atmosphere readings."

The little droid whistled its affirmation of the order, and the two Jedi heard as the X-Wing roared into life and took off overhead.

"We'll need to use your ship, Kaarffror," Helena told him, leading the way back to the other X-Wing.

Kaarffror set the frequency to the Jedi Council chamber within the temple on Tython and set the holocom to hail. After a few moments the call was answered, and the eight Jedi Masters appeared as tiny holographic representations of themselves.

"Masters," Helena greeted them as the two of them bowed reverently.

"_Hello Helena, Kaarffror,"_ Ferry Hekla responded. _"What have you found?"_

"Something's wrong here," she answered. "It's like the islands are dead. It feels strange."

"_Dead? What do you mean?"_ Runice asked.

"It's hard to describe, but it's really quite unsettling to be in the presence of. It's as if everything that lives on these islands has just been…wiped out. Not _dead_ exactly, but not living. It's not decaying at all. It's just…void of life. That's the best I can describe it."

Kaarffror explained that everything was dry and wilted, and that the air smelt thin and sterile, as if it too lacked life.

"_Hmm…"_ Kayla thought to herself, uncrossing and recrossing her legs. _"How long has it been like that for?"_

"Well there's no one at all around to ask, only a few droids. The ones we encountered seemed to think that they'd had their memories wiped around four days ago, but not a scheduled memory wipe. Like they'd been tampered with."

"_That's got to be it,"_ Liina said. _"Some kind of ritual, perhaps. Jaina told you that the Emperor was far more powerful than we expect, right? Maybe his power comes from stealing the life from others."_

The other masters all seemed to agree somewhat, although there were still many holes in this theory.

"I've got my droid running scans at the moment, so we'll be able to see fairly shortly what kind of numbers we're dealing with," Helena told them.

"_What do you sense though?" _Devin asked. _"I'm more interested in how the place feels."_

"It's hard to tell from space," she explained. "It feels sort of normal from up high. As you get closer to the surface you start to see that there's no green on the islands at all. But it's only once you hit the ground that you really sense it properly. It's just not there. It's almost as if it's a mockery of life. Everything's colourless, even the dirt. In the Force, it just feels like…_nothing_. Like it doesn't exist. But the oceans and everything in 'em feel normal to me. It's just the islands."

Devin and Jens exchanged looks, making occasional humming noises.

"_Well, you two get back here as soon as you're able," _Jens said._ "We'll get an investigation team out there and see if we can figure out a timeline. Send us the results of the scans too."_

"Yes, Master," Helena bowed politely, then cut the transmission just as her droid Tinman arrived in her X-Wing.

Kaarffror woofed impatiently about wanting to get off the planet as soon as possible as it was giving him the creeps, and immediately climbed into his X-Wing, looking slightly ridiculous due to his massive frame. Helena couldn't help but laugh every time he got in it, but she still marvelled at Creo's ability to modify the snubfighter's cockpit to fit a wookiee.

* * *

"What do you think, Liina?" Kayla asked the twi'lek.

Liina's lekku twitched as the pieces began falling into place.

"Without knowing much about Sith rituals, it's not easy to tell," she began. "But let's look at the evidence. The whole planet stops responding four days ago, the same time that the droids suffered simultaneous memory loss. Kaarffror and Helena say the islands are completely void of life, from the people to the air and the ground itself. The planet Vaynai is in the same region of space as Korriban and Dromund Kaas and about as remote as you can get; it's off the main hyperlanes, and only gets small amounts of visitors as holiday-makers to boost their small population."

"Right," Ferry caught on. "No one's going to miss it. But that doesn't explain why it's only the islands that were affected. Why not the whole planet? It's not as if the people of the galaxy are going to forgive the loss of the islands as long as the sea life is unharmed."

"Maybe it was a ritual that went wrong somehow?" Devin suggested.

"Or perhaps a test ritual," Jens added. "A small, out of the way planet with very little population, condensed to within a small archipelago of islands. Like Ferry said, no one's going to miss it. Maybe it _was_ part of a ritual, but whatever the ritual is I doubt it's been done properly. Maybe that's why Vaynai was chosen: even if it went wrong, the result wouldn't be dramatically different to success."

"What kind of ritual involves the mass annihilation of an entire population centre though?" Finnschall asked. "What possible reason could there be for that?"

"I've heard about _some_ rituals," Runice said, "but not many. There were rumours of a ritual that could grant immense power that involved a large sacrifice, but from what I heard I think the sacrifice would need to involve Force-sensitive people. A tiny population like Vaynai's wouldn't even be worth the hassle, I would've thought."

"What would it be for though?" Ashlyn asked. "The very idea of wiping an entire planet of life would surely only be worth it if there was an immeasurable power increase of some sort attached to it."

The Council members all looked at Runice, and she self-consciously fidgeted with her red lekku.

"This is only a rumour, but maybe it was an immortality ritual," she suggested. "I wouldn't know anything about this sort of thing, but I imagine you'd need an enormous amount of Force energy to do it. Maybe Jens is right – maybe it was practise for something on a much larger scale?"

Liina nodded her agreement. "If it's the first one that's been done, maybe they just stuffed up and couldn't manage to get all the Force energy from everywhere."

The holocom unit began beeping as the results of Helena's scans arrived. Kayla used the Force to push the appropriate buttons to make the results appear on the holodisplay.

"Oh my," Kayla whispered, her hand over her mouth in shock. "That's simply unbelievable."

"I'm surprised those two could even _breathe_ down there," Ashlyn added.

The results showed zero life forms on any of the islands – not even plant life or bacteria survived. Even the breathable air and atmosphere around the islands had been reduced to near non-existence. The results were consistent with about four days of air and atmosphere bleeding into the drained area.

"Looks pretty definitive to me," Devin said, folding his arms across his chest. "I reckon someone – probably the Sith Emperor – has come along and tried to drain the entire planet of life, but perhaps he wasn't strong enough, and could only get the archipelago."

"If that's true, even that small amount of energy he'd have received from Vaynai would increase his power dramatically. Next time, he probably won't fail," Liina added.

"And _next_ time, he'll probably choose a more highly populated planet," Ferry said. "He's already powerful enough, if he's siphoning Force energy off he'll be pretty much unstoppable soon."

"There's a catch though," Kayla interjected. "A regular person of any species can only take so much power. That's why training is so beneficial: it introduces the new level of power in small increments so your body can get used to it. Large amounts of Force power suddenly introduced into a body will eat it away until there's nothing left. No person could withstand a power increase of the kind of magnitude we're suggesting."

"All the more reason he probably chose Vaynai for the test," Ferry stated. "He's fairly ridiculous already, so a planet like that would probably be enough for him to handle in one go, but not enough to achieve whatever it is he's aiming for eventually. I reckon we can assume he won't go straight after another planet any time soon, or he'll risk his own body. He might even go after another small one to supplement his power even more before going after a big population."

"I think she's right," Liina agreed. "If Runice is correct about this being a kind of immortality ritual, the power it must take to perform the ritual must be enormous. Going after a smaller planet first would serve two purposes then: testing the ritual's success and gaining enough power to perform a bigger one later."

"Why would the Sith Emperor do that though? He's already more powerful than any of us, or so Jaina Solo says," Jens questioned.

"Because we kicked the Sith's ass all over Tython with less than half the numbers he sent here," Ferry reminded him with her usual Mandalorian tact. "He's probably scared witless of us. He knows his power base is useless against us; in a straight fight they'd lose for sure. If solidifying his power base isn't enough, then he must be strengthening himself instead. It's an act of desperation. If he could have done this the whole time, then why wouldn't he have done it five years ago? Or ten years ago even, before any Jedi appeared."

"He probably didn't think we'd be any kind of threat until recently," Kayla answered in agreement. "You're right, Ferry. If he could do this ritual before, he _would _have. I doubt he's only found out about it recently though, so that _must_ mean he's desperate. If Runice is right about the kind of Force energy necessary to perform such a ritual, then he must have initially planned to take most of the galaxy first. Since we've come along and disrupted his plans, he's got no choice now but to do it anyway."

"I'll need to go through the Sith Holocron again, I think," Liina said. "We need to know more about this immortality ritual, if it exists. Any information we can find out about it would help answer our questions."

"Ferry, perhaps it would be wise for you to go back to Korriban and seek out a Sith Force Ghost. Maybe the Sith themselves can tell us if an immortality ritual exists," Kayla suggested. "Make sure you take Cursty, Gavin and Tri'ina with you though. Korriban's far too dangerous, even if you _are_ a Jedi Master."

"I can do that," Ferry nodded. "It'll be good for them to see Korriban anyway."

"I'll ask Crinnul and Xander to have a look through our own Jedi Holocrons and see if there's any information in there about Sith rituals," Devin announced. "It could be something the Jedi have seen before."

"Good idea," Kayla agreed. "Alright everyone, I guess we've got a starting point now. Let's see what we can dig up."

* * *

"Korriban, huh?" Cursty muttered. "Should be interesting."

"You mean hot, sandy, windy and creepy," Gavin retorted.

"Actually, Korriban is really cold, right Master Ferry?" Tri'ina added in the know-it-all, matter-of-fact voice she often employed these days when she had something she thought was interesting to say.

"Freezing, sometimes," Ferry confirmed. "And please don't call me 'Master'. I know it's what most of the others teach you to do, but don't do it around me."

"Why not?" the little twi'lek girl asked. "It's just a sign of respect."

"I know," Ferry smiled up at her. "And I thank you for respecting me, but I'd rather be respected for being myself than for being just another Jedi Master."

Tri'ina considered this for a few moments, then looked up at Gavin.

"Is that why you don't want me to call you 'Master' as well?" she asked.

"No, I'd just rather we were friends than have a strict master-apprentice thing going on. You already know you're a Padawan, having to reiterate it whenever you speak to me seems pointless."

"I agree completely," she grinned, "Gav."

Gavin shook his head with amusement and put his arm around her shoulders as they walked.

In the six months since the Battle of Tython, both Gavin and Tri'ina had had a growth spurt. Gavin now stood at one hundred and eighty-eight centimetres tall – a full thirty-one centimetres taller than his big sister – while Tri'ina had grown ten centimetres taller than Ferry. Apart from some of the younger trainees and Kayla – who stood at a tiny one hundred and forty-eight centimetres –Ferry was now the shortest member of the Jedi Order.

Height wasn't the only change that had been made obvious recently though. Tri'ina had taken the loss of her old master pretty hard, even if she'd only had a very short time with him. Where she was once timid and totally lacking in confidence, now she was an eager young woman who was desperate to prove herself to anyone. She'd gone so far in the opposite direction that the Council had mentioned their worry that she might become arrogant.

Gavin's big change was obviously his newfound height, but with the height came some subtle shifts in his facial features that emphasised his strong jawline, giving him a more rugged, masculine look. He'd begun to draw looks from young women wherever he went, and he himself had taken notice. Ferry gave him a lot of grief for being too cocky, but she knew as well as he did that he wasn't. Being Mandalorian, the attention hadn't taken away any time from his training regimen, and even if it did he assumed the Council would understand. His biggest issue at the moment was that Tri'ina had begun to notice his looks too. He'd meant to speak with his sister about her, but hadn't had the chance recently.

He doubted she'd have much in the way of good advice these days anyway. Ever since Byz died Ferry hadn't spoken to anyone about how she felt about it at all. Gavin as well as Ferry's old master Ashlyn had both voiced their concerns about her, but whenever they tried to approach her about it she'd just smile and say she was totally fine, usually with an effortlessly sweet smile and a friendly hug.

The seeming nonchalance she displayed with respect to Byz was completely offset by her increasingly short fuse though. As the Jedi Master and Council member, Ferry was every bit as diligent, intelligent, generous and wise as she'd always been, and had taken to her new duties like a shyrack took to flight. However, on many occasions she'd been drawn into fights and squabbles of all kinds, and never backed down from a fight, verbal or physical. Gavin liked to think this was due to her Mandalorian heritage, but he knew better.

She'd also started to dress more provocatively, much to the delight of many of the soldiers and officers stationed at the Military Base. She'd turned seventeen since the Battle of Tython, and although her position within the Jedi Order dictated her demeanour most of the time, in a lot of ways she was acting more her age now than she had before she'd become a Jedi Master. Gavin assumed it was some type of reaction to losing Byz, but Ferry would never admit it. In fact, most of the time the suggestion annoyed her to the point that she would leave the room.

The rest of the Council didn't really care much how Ferry chose to dress, although they had to admit that her style had rubbed off on her Padawan Cursty a little, and that did bother them somewhat. Cursty was smart enough to know how young she was though, and both girls understood that she was simply emulating Ferry, so nobody really paid much attention to it. Kayla and Ashlyn actually thought it was cute that she wanted to be so much like her.

Given the nature of the Jedi and their abilities, most people thought that the robes Devin and Jens' wore nearly all the time was how a Jedi should look, and historically it _was_ how they'd looked. But most people also forgot that the vast majority of the Order hadn't become Jedi until they were at least ten years old, and by then they'd had a great deal of time to get used to wearing regular street clothes and thought that the Jedi robes looked a little stereotypical and bland. This was especially true for most of the female Jedi, who felt far more comfortable wearing their own normal clothing.

Kayla, Ashlyn and Liina hardly ever wore their Jedi robes, and actually argued that dressing in them too often placed them above the normal people they were supposed to be serving. Ferry took the concept a little too far for some people, and was often seen these days wearing revealing tops with deep, plunging necklines teamed with obscenely small shorts or skirts and tall, heeled boots. She'd become what Crinnul described as a 'massive tease, worse than a twi'lek dancing girl'. This comparison didn't bother her, and she always argued that 'if you don't like it, then don't look'.

The Military Base's Head Dock Officer, Marshal Harlon Yeallory, was Ferry's biggest critic by far. He was quite a strict officer and stuck to military protocol very closely, and although he was a strong supporter of the Jedi's stance against the Republic and the Chiss Ascendancy, he'd taken a strong dislike to the Jedi themselves and Ferry in particular. She revelled in annoying people like Yeallory though, and whenever she had to pass through the Military Base she deliberately wore the most inappropriate clothing she could find.

Today, Yeallory spotted the four Jedi approaching one of the Jedi's armoured shuttles from across the hangar and stood in plain sight, watching them with a fierce frown on his face. Ferry had decided to wear skin-tight synthleather leggings and a simple strappy singlet top today, partly because she knew the leggings would irritate Yeallory and partly because the shiny material didn't breathe at all, and would help keep her somewhat warm while on Korriban. The first part of the plan worked perfectly, and Yeallory stopped them before they boarded the shuttle.

"Master Hekla," he said flatly and without a salute, despite her military rank being that of a General. His Kuati accent was slightly watered down from years of serving on Coruscant. "I hear you're off to Korriban today."

"That's right," Ferry answered, crossing her arms. "What of it?"

He looked her up and down, his gaze resting on her now-ample chest for longer than was appropriate. Ferry could feel Gavin's anger rising to the surface and quickly nudged him with the Force to get him to settle back down. He didn't.

"You'll be cold out there," Yeallory replied, giving away nothing on his face. "I hope you aren't dressing just to annoy me, Hekla. I'd hate to have to collect your corpse from that crud-hole."

"You've met my Padawan, Cursty," she gestured towards her while flashing her sweetest fake smile at the Marshal. "She took the precaution of pre-packing the shuttle with some coats for all of us."

Yeallory sniffed, in what appeared to be an amused gesture.

"Smart girl," he said, looking straight at the twelve year-old Padawan.

Gavin's irritation boiled over then, and Ferry allowed him to blurt out whatever came to his mind first.

"You got something to say, Yeallory?"

The Marshal's eyes shifted to look at Gavin, his head staying pointed at Cursty for a few moments before it too turned to face him.

"As a matter of fact, I do," he smiled with barely concealed contempt. "As of tomorrow morning, all personnel within this facility will be required to wear military uniforms at all times." He turned to face Ferry then, looking her up and down again. "I just thought you'd like to know."

Ferry smiled sweetly at him again, playing the game as expertly as Yeallory himself.

"That's very kind of you to warn us," she said. "We appreciate it. Who, may I ask, was the originator of this new rule?"

"I fail to see how that is of any concern," he replied, his eyes cold and piercing as he stared her down. "Unless you have a problem with it, of course."

"No problem," she answered. "As a General in the Jedi Coalition though, it's my duty to know what goes on under my command. You understand. Unless you have a problem with it, of course."

Yeallory smiled insincerely, detecting his defeat, then promptly turned on his heels and stiffly walked off without replying.

"He can't do that," Gavin shook his head. "We outrank him."

Ferry gestured with her hand, pretending to brush dust off her shoulder.

"Who cares? He's just throwing his weight around."

"But you're a General," Cursty argued. "He can't tell you what to do."

Ferry smiled at her mischievously and put a hand on her shoulder.

"My dear Cursty," she chuckled. "The only uniforms we have are those Special Forces ones, and they'll annoy the crap out of him."

It was less of a uniform and more of a night club outfit, really. Although the material used to make them was the same energy-dissipating material used in the Special Forces soldiers' uniforms, Jedi weren't in any great need of head-to-toe protection, even on a battlefield. Ashlyn's version of the uniform was a short, tight-fitting sleeveless camouflage shirt and matching tight trousers.

Cursty wore the same outfit, albeit nowhere near as tight on her due to her young, skinny frame. She smiled as she remembered how inappropriate it was and how much it would irritate Yeallory.

"He has serious issues, that bloke," Gavin commented to his sister, watching Yeallory disappear into his office. "He spends more time than anyone else checking you out, then makes up some rubbish about a pretend rule he can't even enforce in order to get you to cover up."

"He shouldn't be here," Tri'ina said suddenly. "He's up to something."

"I don't trust him either, but he's just a creep. I doubt he's dangerous," Cursty countered.

"He _is_ dangerous," Tri'ina insisted. "He has full control of the docks, and he hates Jedi."

Ferry realised in the moment that Tri'ina had finished her sentence that Yeallory had known they were going to Korriban.

"How did he know?" she said under her breath.

"Know?" Cursty asked. "Know what?"

Gavin caught on to his big sister's thought pattern immediately.

"He knows about Korriban…" he muttered, then glanced at the shuttle.

"Spast!" Ferry cursed, then began yelling at everyone nearby. "Get away from the shuttle! MOVE!"

Tri'ina and Cursty took cover behind some cargo containers and began using the Force to plant a sense of urgency in everyone's mind, causing the soldiers, pilots and officers to fall into their well-practised evacuation drills. Once they were all clear of the shuttle, the two girls bolted towards it and began searching for explosives as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, Ferry and Gavin sprinted towards Yeallory's office, where the traitorous Marshal was exiting hastily, holding a repeating blaster and belt full of incendiary grenades.

"Yeallory!" Gavin yelled futilely.

The Marshal fired off a few shots, all going quite wide. Ferry and Gavin ignited their lightsabers and took off after him again as he ran towards a back exit which led to the Military Facility's training grounds. He reached the door and hammered the switch with his palm, only to find a platoon of Coalition soldiers pointing their blaster rifles at his face.

Gavin lifted Yeallory off the ground by his throat using the Force while the soldiers disarmed him. Ferry deactivated her lightsabers and approached the Marshal as he wheezed and gasped, desperate for air. Gavin released his grip and Yeallory landed on his feet, inhaling great gulps of air before Ferry heaved her right fist hard into his solar plexus, emptying his lungs again. Yeallory doubled over on the ground just as Cursty and Tri'ina arrived.

"This is some pretty advanced tech," Tri'ina advised. "We're lucky we disarmed it in time, or this whole place _and_ the temple would have gone up."

"You really weren't mucking around, were you buster?" Cursty said, pointing an accusing finger at Yeallory.

He spat at her, a medium-sized gob of saliva landing on her right boot.

"Eww!" Cursty grimaced, then kicked him in the chest as hard as she could.

Yeallory's eyes almost popped out of his head as the young Jedi's saliva-stained boot struck home, breaking a rib.

"Disgusting!" she complained, removing the boot and wiping the gob of spit off onto Yeallory's uniform.

The soldiers started laughing as Yeallory tried to get to his feet. The front-most soldier – a captain, judging by his epaulets – planted the business end of his blaster rifle on the back of Yeallory's head, making the Marshal freeze in that position.

"I don't think I heard the Commander say you could get up, slime-ball. How about you guys?"

"No, sir," another soldier agreed. "I didn't hear a thing."

"Nothing," a third answered. "I think we'd know if Commander Lellynd said that."

Yeallory cursed loudly. "I get the point," he squeaked, unable to talk properly due to his injury. "Beeogola Nechaska!"

The soldier captain roughly forced Yeallory's head down to the ground with his blaster.

"That's no way to speak to a young lady," he said as he set his weapon to stun and fired.

Yeallory's body slumped limply as he fell unconscious and the soldiers lowered their weapons.

"I never liked that guy," Ferry smirked. "Fancy telling me what I can and can't wear."

The soldiers immediately started nodding and voicing their agreement. Gavin rolled his eyes and took off towards the shuttle. Tri'ina handed the captain the disarmed explosive.

"Careful with that, Captain," she warned him. "My lekku twitch just thinking about how dangerous that thing is."

"Don't worry about a thing, Commander Aschiert," he smiled reassuringly at her. "We'll take good care of it. You guys go and head off to wherever you're needed." He grinned conspiratorially at Cursty then. "Yeallory's coming with us for a nice, long interrogation with General Arriah."


	2. Chapter 2

"I don't know how you did that, General," the soldier Captain smirked, "but I'm very impressed."

Runice smiled appreciatively at him.

"You learn a few tricks after doing this for a while," she replied. "Plus, I'm a Jedi. It _does_ make things a little easier."

"No kidding," he chuckled. "I've never seen such a hardass break so quickly. It was a pleasure to watch."

Runice scanned the soldier's surface thoughts and smiled as she realised he had a bit of a crush on her. Not feeling apprehensive in the slightest about using the Force in such a way, she sauntered up to him slowly, overemphasising her hips and drawing his eyes down. More confidently than she had expected, the captain leaned up against a wall casually and folded his arms, a self-assured smile creeping across his face.

"What's your name, captain?"

"Hamish Drello, ma'am."

She glanced down at his crotch to see how he would react, but Drello's gaze stayed on her face and watched her every move, only becoming more and more intrigued. Even when she stood right in his face, Drello still kept exuding confidence. Runice smiled wryly and put her hand to his left cheek, stroking it with her thumb.

"I like you, Captain Drello," she said softly, then walked out of the room without looking back.

"I'll see you around then," he called after her.

Runice kept walking, waving back at him but not turning around. She felt his satisfaction through the Force and made a mental note to surprise him sometime in the future.

She made her way back to the Jedi Temple, feeling rather pleased with herself. Yeallory had divulged that he'd been tasked by Chancellor Versca and the Sith Emperor with infiltrating the Tython Military Base. His mission was to gather intelligence on the Jedi Coalition forces, but he'd run into trouble when Ferry Hekla had begun to suspect he was up to something. He'd been fairly successful up until then, but he'd given himself away after Ferry started rejecting his advances.

Yeallory told her he'd been promised a rich reward should he succeed, and that failure would be punishable by death. Realising he'd raised Ferry's suspicions, he decided to try and silence her permanently.

As Runice reached the temple she was greeted by Kayla, who'd sensed her approaching and waited for her.

"So tell me about it," Kayla smiled.

Runice and Kayla slowly walked towards the outside training area at the front of the temple, talking as they went. Runice explained Yeallory's presence and mission, as well as the bomb intended to kill Ferry.

"I don't understand why he wouldn't have just requested a transfer or something," Kayla shrugged, "but maybe that's just me."

"He was pretty pathological," Runice explained. "If I were Ferry, I'd be totally creeped out. He's a total weirdo."

"Pathological beyond trying to blow up a seventeen year old girl while on an undercover mission to spy on the Jedi Coalition because she didn't display any interest in someone more than twice her age?"

Runice grinned and started laughing. "Yes. That."

"You found out something else too though, didn't you?"

Runice nodded.

"There's a reason they were watching our movements," she said. "And it has to do with their rituals. It's pretty fortunate that Ferry and Gavin left when they did. Yeallory tried his best to keep them back here for another day."

Kayla folded her arms and frowned thoughtfully.

"You think the Sith were perhaps trying to keep them from seeing what they're doing on Korriban?"

"Absolutely," Runice nodded. "And no, Yeallory doesn't know anything about rituals."

Kayla's frown narrowed, and she looked down at her boots.

"What is it?" Runice asked.

Kayla shook her head, as if coming to her senses suddenly.

"Something feels wrong. I just sensed a whole lot of power on Korriban, just for a split second, then it was gone."

"Ferry and the others aren't there yet, are they?"

Kayla closed her eyes for a moment, then gave Runice a serious look as she reopened them.

"No, I don't think so. But it was a massive power spike. Something big is definitely happening there."

"How do you know it was on Korriban?"

Kayla closed her eyes again, as if checking to make sure she was actually correct. She opened them after a couple of seconds and nodded with surety.

"I can sense Ferry and Gavin getting close to it. I suppose it could be Dromund Kaas, but Korriban _feels_ right."

"Have Crinnul and Xander come up with anything yet?"

"I was about to go and see them to find out," Kayla said with a smile, regaining her regular sweet, friendly composure. "Come with me."

"Sure," Runice shrugged, then followed her through the temple.

* * *

"Whoa, did you feel that?" Gavin asked. "Whatever it was, it was massive."

"Not clearly," Ferry confirmed. "But yeah, I felt it. We're dropping out of hyperspace in a sec anyway, so we can see if it came from-"

Ferry paused as the shuttle reverted to realspace, immediately sensing the vast power emanating from the planet below.

"No wonder that creepy Yeallory guy was so keen to keep us away from here," Cursty muttered softly. "That power is so intense. What the hell are they doing down there?"

"I don't know, Curst," Ferry answered, staring at Korriban's surface and wondering why she couldn't see any physical manifestation of what was happening. "But I think we should land this bucket of crap and go have a look before it's all over."

"Hang on a sec," Gavin interrupted. "Am I the only one who thinks this is a bad idea?"

Ferry looked to Cursty, who scrunched her face up in a sort of facial shrug, then to Tri'ina. Tri'ina didn't say anything, but her unshielded mind told Ferry that she too thought it was better than they see what was happening.

"Yes," Ferry answered her brother, immediately aiming the shuttle towards the source of the power spike.

Gavin bit back an insult, waving his arms around and rolling his eyes as he tried to think of a more appropriate way to challenge her.

"That power, it was bigger than anything we can conjure," he argued eventually. "If we go down there now, we might get very killed. What possible advantage is that going to bring the Order?"

"You sensed one big power spike, and I now sense many people down there," Ferry answered coolly. "There's no way that one big spike was one big Sith Lord. Whatever it is, we can handle it. And besides, if we don't check it out we might miss something important. You're a Mandalorian. Don't be such a coward."

"Is that an order?" he asked challengingly.

Ferry looked at him with incredulity for a few moments, then shook her head and continued focusing on flying without answering him.

"Don't you care what I think?"

This time Ferry bit back, pointing her index finger at his face like a weapon.

"If what you think is that we should hide until all the bad guys have finished whatever they're doing so we can stay safe, then no, I don't give a mynock's ass about what you think, Gavin."

"We can't help anybody when we're dead, _Ferros_."

"I'd rather _be_ dead than be a coward."

"There's nothing cowardly about not rushing into a situation where the odds are obviously stacked against us and-"

"SHUT IT!"

The two Hekla siblings instantly turned with surprise as Cursty yelled at the top of her lungs.

"You're both hopeless sometimes," she continued now that she had their attention. "Gavin, we need to go down there because if we don't, we may never find out what the Sith just did. It's too important not to check out. Ferry, we need to be careful down there. You might be able to handle just about anything that comes your way, but we can't. Now, I expect you two to start acting like a proper pair of Jedi instead of pathetic children squabbling over who gets the toy. Got it?"

Ferry looked at Gavin with wide eyes and blinked twice, not knowing exactly what to say. Gavin raised and lowered his eyebrows to indicate that he too was a little dumbfounded.

"Now kiss and make up," Cursty ordered them. "We don't have much time. They could leave any minute now and then we'll _never_ know what just happened down there."

Ferry was the first to break the silence. She leaned forwards and gave her brother a little peck on the cheek.

"Sorry, Gav. We'll be really careful down there, I promise."

"It's okay, I should have thought about the bigger picture," he answered.

"There, that wasn't so hard now was it?" Cursty asked, her arms folded across her chest. "Now let's _go_ before they _leave!_"

Ferry quickly shoved the throttle to full as she glanced at Gavin and started chuckling.

* * *

Runice and Kayla stepped out of the turbolift and into the Tower of First Knowledge and immediately saw Liina arguing with the gatekeeper of the Sith Holocron.

"Fine then!" she shouted. "Keep your stupid secrets!"

The hologram faded before either Runice or Kayla could get a good look at it. Liina growled loudly in frustration.

"No luck then, I take it?" Runice asked her.

"Damn holocron won't tell me anything," she explained. "I got some rudimentary info the first few times I looked at it, but it won't elaborate."

"How are Crinnul and Xander going?"

"Not sure," Liina shrugged. "I've been too busy fighting this stupid thing."

The three Jedi Masters walked into the next room and saw both young men deactivating the holocrons they were looking at.

"I hope you guys had more success than I did," Liina said to them irritably.

"Not me," Crinnul mumbled, activating another holocron. "I can't find a damn thing in these."

"I might have something," Xander replied hopefully. "According to this holocron, Emperor Vitiate was very good at rituals and did quite a few of them back in his time. There's not much in the way of specifics, but it's a start."

Kayla raised an eyebrow. "What sort of rituals?"

Xander scrunched his face up a little as he spoke. "This is the bit that I was talking about when I said 'not much in the way of specifics'," he admitted. "Apparently, the ancient Jedi of Vitiate's time said he performed at least three. They didn't have much proof or anything like that though."

Kayla and Runice shared a look of intrigue.

"Anything's better than nothing," Liina told Xander. "What did the gatekeeper say?"

Xander pushed a hand through his short, straight black hair and scratched his scalp thoughtfully.

"A Jedi strike team infiltrated a Sith stronghold and spoke to a human Jedi the Sith had captured. But here's where it gets interesting: the Jedi's name was Revan, and he was captured three hundred years before the Jedi found him again. No human's natural life is anywhere near that long."

"Did Revan say anything else to them?" Runice asked.

Xander nodded. "He said the Emperor had been alive at least a thousand years, and that he was a Pureblood Sith."

"A _thousand_?" Kayla asked in disbelief.

Xander nodded again, raising his eyebrows and nodding in an expression that silently said 'I know, right?'.

"There's more though," he continued. "Another Jedi from that time named Kira Carsen revealed the existence of some Sith called 'Emperor's Children'. Apparently they were extremely powerful and could be controlled completely by Vitiate on a whim. Most were completely unaware for the most part that they even _were_ associated with the Emperor, either directly or indirectly. This Kira Carsen spent almost two decades without knowing, then suddenly turned on her master and gave him the fright of his life. The holocron seems pretty sure there was a ritual involved in that too."

"So what you're saying is that this Vitiate guy knew rituals that sustained his and other people's lives for well over their natural length, and could give him full control of the bodies and minds of his subordinates?" Runice asked. "What kind of a mess did they leave?"

Xander shrugged. "It's a little scant on the details," he admitted. "But the Jedi of that time seemed to think that the immortality rituals would probably involve massive sacrifices of some sort. Like I said though, there's not much in the way of proof."

"Finally!" Crinnul shouted in exasperation. "Bloody holocron's come through!"

The other four Jedi gathered around him to see what he'd found out. The holocron's gatekeeper was a Jedi named Satele Shan.

"Master Satele," Crinnul bowed. "Could you please repeat what you told me to my masters?"

"Certainly," the hologram of Satele began with a gentle smile. "Towards the end of the Great Galactic War, a group of Jedi found a planet named Nathema in the far Outer Rim, near the Corporate Sector. It was completely barren, but not due to natural causes. The Jedi who found it all said that the Force felt as though it had been stripped away from the planet and everything on it, very similar to another planet named Katarr, a colony world of the Miraluka people."

"I've never heard of Nathema _or_ Katarr," Kayla stated. "Where they removed from all records?"

"If you have never heard of them, then yes," Satele affirmed logically. "Nathema was stricken from the records after the Emperor performed an immortality ritual there. We had no idea of its existence either."

"We have seen similar symptoms at another planet very recently," Kayla told the gatekeeper. "A planet named Vaynai was partially destroyed."

"Vaynai is very near to Nathema," Satele said with a nod. "It's in the same sector – the Chorlian sector. Incidentally, the Chorlian sector is also home to the Malachor system, where the Mandalorian War ended. I'm curious though, what did you mean exactly when you said 'partially destroyed'?"

"Vaynai is a water world, with a small archipelago of islands as its only land masses," Kayla explained. "The islands were completely wiped of life. Even the air and atmosphere around them was drained. The water itself was untouched though."

"Interesting," Satele said, stroking her chin in an obviously pre-programmed gesture. "If I were to guess, I'd say that whoever was there attempted to perform the immortality ritual that the Emperor once did, but wasn't powerful enough to complete it in total success."

"That's what we thought too," Runice added.

"One other thing," Satele said. "We had no proof of this in our time, but we believed that Nathema may have been populated by many thousands of Sith Lords when the Emperor performed the ritual, although subsequent rituals performed on others such as Revan and Scourge seemed not to need this."

"Hmm," Kayla muttered as she sat down on a nearby bench. "Is it possible to use the same ritual to gain power prior to performing the ritual properly?"

"I couldn't give you a definitive answer," Satele admitted, "but I believe that would be possible, yes. Darth Nihilus' power came from an ability to absorb the Force directly from another living being, draining them entirely just as the Emperor did, but with obviously different outcomes. I'm sorry I can be of no further assistance in such matters, our knowledge was less than complete as well."

"Not at all," Kayla smiled. "You've been most helpful to us, thanks awfully."

"Any time," Satele responded, then the hologram began to fade.

"Wait!" Liina shouted. "One last question, if I may."

Satele Shan reappeared slowly. "How can I help?"

"The Sith holocron we have won't tell me anything more than basic information. Do you happen to know why?"

Satele started chuckling. "I'm sorry, I've been programmed with Satele Shan's personality, and she would find it quite amusing that you even bothered to try accessing a Sith holocron."

"Why?"

"Sith holocrons are like Jedi ones in that they are able to sense the Force user's alignment. You're a Jedi Master, are you not?"

"Well, yes," Liina answered.

"There's your problem. It won't tell you a thing unless you prove yourself to be worthy."

"Thanks ever so much," Kayla answered.

"You're very welcome," Satele responded, then disappeared properly.

Kayla sighed with relief. "Looks like we finally have some answers, then. Now all we need is to hear back from Ferry and Gavin."

"What about the immortality ritual?" Crinnul asked.

"What about it?" Liina answered. "Master Satele said you need thousands of Sith to do it. They don't have thousands of Sith, they have less than a hundred according to Helena."

"I don't think just having a lot of Force users counts as performing the immortality ritual," Kayla said. "Master Satele said 'Sith', not 'Force users'. That must mean there's more to the ritual than just absorbing the Force, hence why Nihilus wasn't immortal. As long as the current Sith Emperor doesn't have the numbers, he won't be able to perform the ritual properly."

"But he'll still be very powerful," Runice argued. "He was already more powerful than Devin _before_ he went to Vaynai. If we let him do it again on another planet, he'll be pretty much unstoppable, even without being immortal. And besides, Master Satele also said that Vitiate didn't need all those Sith to perform the ritual on others afterwards."

"True, but he _did_ need them prior to it. I'm guessing he wouldn't have been able to perform it that way without having done it the difficult way first."

"That's a pretty dangerous assumption," Liina warned.

"I know," Kayla admitted with a small grimace. "Which is why we ought to act quickly to stop him. The sooner we hear back from Ferry, the sooner we can start planning our next move."

* * *

The Jedi shuttle landed on Korriban in almost the exact same spot Ferry had landed last time, when she'd come with Byz. The Valley of Dark Lords loomed before them ominously as always, but this time with immense power radiating seemingly from its surface. The cold, dry winds blew through the sandy valley with ferocity, hitting the four young Jedi hard and making them shiver instantly, although the strong dark side aura of the planet itself may have had plenty to do with that as well.

"You weren't kidding," Cursty blurted as she wrapped herself in her thick jacket. "This place is so much colder than I expected."

"Let's get to work quickly then, so we can go home," Gavin suggested, moving off towards the nearest tomb. "We came to find a dead Sith, so let's investigate the tombs."

"Not so fast," Ferry interrupted his progress with an outstretched hand. "Not all these tombs will have a Sith ghost floating around in them. Besides, I want to find out what that energy we felt was, since everyone appears to have gone."

Another spike of dark side energy hit them then, and all four turned in the direction it had come from.

"There," Ferry pointed north. "At the base of that hill leading to the old academy."

A lone figure stood at the foot of the hill, garbed in flowing black robes. The power coming from the person was incredible. Tri'ina turned to Gavin and pressed herself against him, huddling as close as she could.

"I'm not sure I want to go there," she whimpered.

Gavin wrapped an arm around her in reassurance and rubbed her shoulder.

"Stay behind me and Ferry," he told her. "And stay alert. The Sith don't play fair."

Cursty and Ferry moved off ahead of Tri'ina and Gavin, exuding confidence. They walked for about a kilometre before they were within earshot of the mysterious dark side Force user. The figure tossed aside her black robes, revealing a young human woman of maybe twenty-five to thirty years of age. She had long, straight black hair which blew about in the wind, pale skin, soft, pretty facial features and wore a tightly-fitted dark-grey flight suit.

"She's a lot more attractive than the last Sith I fought," Gavin commented.

Ferry felt an almost negligible spike of hurt coming from Tri'ina, which Gavin completely missed. She stepped forward and called her two lightsabers to her hands.

"Welcome to Korriban," the woman said.

Her voice was strange, as though two people were speaking at once. One was a rather high pitched female voice, obviously belonging to the woman herself, the other was a deep, masculine bellow. Ferry reached into the Force and immediately sensed two separate people, causing her to flinch slightly.

"What _are_ you?" Ferry wondered aloud.

The woman sniggered, drawing a double-bladed crimson red lightsaber.

"I am Sith," she responded. "I am here to prevent the gathering of vital information on your part, and prevent you I shall."

Ferry kept her gaze firmly fixed on the woman, but turned her head slightly to indicate to the others that she was addressing them.

"The dark side is very strong here," she warned them. "Don't let it overwhelm you, but don't get cocky and ignore it too much either. She's far more powerful than Artaith was when I fought him here, and he managed to get the upper hand on Byz and I."

"Wise words," the woman grinned. "They will not save you."

With surprising speed she sprinted forward and slammed her lightsaber down on Ferry, who only just managed to bring her own blades up in time to block. Staggering backwards, Ferry instinctively swiped low and high in opposite directions simultaneously, then rolled backwards and onto her feet as she fell. The woman leapt above both strikes and Force pushed Ferry hard into the ground, eliciting a grunt from her as she crumpled into the sand.

The woman then sped after Cursty, who led her away from Ferry, giving her enough time to recover again. With effortless ease she caught up and grabbed Cursty by the throat, squeezing it shut and then tossing her aside. Cursty angrily cast a quick blast of Force lightning at the woman, taking her by surprise and sending her flying several metres away. Gavin and Tri'ina both attacked then with a flurry of strikes that were all parried or blocked by the woman's saberstaff. She grinned wickedly at them as she fought, eventually managing to press forward. Gavin grabbed Tri'ina with the Force suddenly and sent her flying backwards as he too leapt away. Both landed on their feet as Cursty held the woman's body in stasis.

"I can't hold her much longer," Cursty said through gritted teeth. "Hurry!"

Even as she finished speaking Ferry was already in the air just short of the Sith woman. She pounded the ground with both hands, emitting a Smash that struck the woman on the shoulders. The force of the blast sent a shockwave that hammered Gavin and Tri'ina in the back and created a crater around the woman.

The Sith woman managed to put up a Force shield around her in time, absorbing some of the damage. The shield shattered as Ferry's attack struck, sending her sailing through the air about ten metres. She recovered instantly and leapt to her feet with an inhuman growl, flicking her wrist to send her saberstaff spinning quickly through the air straight at Cursty. The young Jedi's eyes bulged in shock as she bent her body backwards at the knees on reflex. The saber missed her by millimetres as she fell to the ground and blew out a big sigh of relief.

Tri'ina and Gavin charged forwards again, trying to attack before the saberstaff returned to the woman's hands. The woman sniggered as she held her hands outstretched before her, using the Force to suspend them both. She leaned backwards, then shoved with both hands, sending Tri'ina sailing backwards about fifty metres away. Gavin managed to block most of the blow, but not all of it. He struggled against the force of it, but couldn't hold out forever and was eventually overwhelmed. He flew backwards a few metres and hit the ground hard, headfirst.

Cursty used the opportunity to grab the woman with the Force and pull backwards as hard as she could. With eyes wide she was ripped from her position and flew straight towards Cursty's waiting lightsabers. Cursty swung her violet and yellow blades forcefully, but struck thin air. The woman had Force pushed the ground to elevate her, clearing Cursty's blades by a considerable margin.

Ferry sprinted back into the fight after checking on Gavin, who was dazed but otherwise okay. Both Cursty and Ferry attacked using their preferred form of Juyo, quickly overwhelming the Sith woman with their combined four lightsabers. The erratic movements of the form, combined with Kayla's added inclusion of some of Ataru's acrobatic leaps and spins was too much for the Sith. Ferry suddenly sensed another surge of power coming.

"Get back!" she yelled at Cursty, but she was too late.

The woman compressed herself into a foetal position, hovering in the air slightly above the ground, then extended all limbs outwards, creating a shockwave not unlike an omnidirectional Force push. Cursty knew she was doomed even as she turned to run, taking the full force of the attack. She was hurled face-down into the sand and tumbled for several metres, joining Tri'ina in unconsciousness.

"Any last words?" Ferry seethed.

The woman grinned at her, showing perfect white teeth and a girlish innocence usually reserved for people like Runice and Kayla. She even had dimples, and her dark eyes shone with a mischievousness that could be interpreted as charming.

"You have no idea what's been done here, do you Master Hekla?"

"How do you know my name?" Ferry asked, reactively blocking her thoughts with the Force.

"How indeed," the woman grinned a little wider, the creepy low baritone overtaking the higher pitched timbre for volume.

Just as Ferry was about to strike again, the woman glanced over her shoulder and saw Gavin charging at her. He Force pulled at the Sith woman, but she barely budged. As he landed he slammed down with his white and orange blades, the woman blocking them with her saberstaff. They held that position for a few seconds, each seemingly matching the other for strength. Ferry leapt above the pair, hoping to land another Smash, but was taken by surprise when the woman kicked Gavin hard in the chest straight towards her, making her rethink the attack at the last moment. Ferry collided with her brother in mid-air and the two hit the ground hard. The woman appeared in front of them, as if she'd been there the whole time, and casually gestured with her hand. Ferry and her two lightsabers were flung backwards more than twenty metres away and she landed hard yet again, this time struggling to get up.

She watched helplessly as the woman deactivated her lightsaber and dragged Gavin by the arms over towards her. She got to her feet painfully, trying not to outwardly show it, and was promptly shoved back down into the sand again.

The woman sat down behind Gavin, pulling his arms behind his back and then wrapping her legs around his torso, pinning his arms in place. She snaked one arm around his neck and forcefully tugged backwards, tilting his head backwards and squeezing his neck. Ferry growled angrily and tried to get back up again, but the woman used her free hand to gesture a choking motion. Ferry felt her throat close up, only enough to make her light-headed and panicky. She struggled, trying to break free as she watched Gavin's expression turn from discomfort to agonising pain.

She screamed his name, reaching out to him hopelessly, but the only noise she could make was a pathetic squeak.

"You could have been great, Master Hekla. Your decision not to join the Sith will be both yours and your brother's downfall. Unless, of course, Gavin chooses otherwise."

The woman inched her lips towards Gavin's ear and spoke gently into it, still with the low baritone accompanying her.

"Perhaps this power is of interest to you, young Jedi Hekla?" she said. "The power to challenge and defeat two powerful Padawans, a promising young Knight and the Order's most deadly Master all at the same time. It can be yours, Gavin, if you want it."

Gavin didn't answer. He just looked at Ferry with defiance in his eyes, as she watched on helplessly, still struggling against the Force choke. The woman tightened her hold on his neck then, causing Gavin to squirm and thrash as he began to lose consciousness.

"Answer me!" the woman yelled angrily.

Gavin tried to grin, but despite his obvious size and strength advantage over her, her right arm on its own was still enough to keep his jaw forced closed.

"Gh tuh hll," he squeaked through his forcibly gritted teeth.

"What was that?" the woman asked again, grinning at his obvious pain and discomfort, then loosened her sleeper hold enough for him to speak properly.

Gavin coughed uncontrollably for a few seconds as he recomposed himself.

"I said, _go to hell_."

"Wrong answer, Mandalorian!"

Gavin screamed as the woman squeezed her thighs together with unfathomable strength, breaking several of his ribs. Angrily, he snapped his head backwards and hit her in the jaw, causing her concentration to break momentarily. In that moment Ferry leapt to her feet, coughing and spluttering as she too got her breath back. Gavin rolled away as quickly as he could, crying out in pain as his shattered ribs took the full weight of his rotating mass again and again. Ferry quickly called her lightsabers to her hands and leapt into the air. She saw the Sith woman about to attack Gavin again and quickly Force pushed her into the ground before landing one last Smash directly on top of her.

The woman screamed as the attack landed on her midsection, rupturing most of her internal organs and disintegrating her own ribs. The vibrations caused by the Smash kept surging through her, shaking her cartilage away from her bones and causing tremendous pain. The woman lay on the ground, whimpering and crying as blood splattered from her mouth whenever she coughed.

"He's…gone," she stammered, a small, relieved smile forming on her lips. "Fi…finally."

Ferry tried to help her to her feet, but the woman refused.

"Leave me," she said, then coughed painfully, tears flowing freely down her face. "I wo…I won't…ma…make it. Kill me."

Gavin snorted. "Why the bloody hell would we want to help you take the easy way out after what you just put us through? No, you're gonna suffer."

The woman's eyes widened in desperation and horror.

"No! No, ple..please! Hear m…me out. Pl…please listen!"

Gavin looked at Ferry questioningly, lighting his white saber and holding it above the woman's face.

"PLEASE!" she shouted.

Ferry nodded at Gavin, who then deactivated the blade.

"Speak," he said. "Quickly, before I lose my patience and stab you through the face for fun."

"I've…made a huge…mista…mistake," she stammered, blood bubbling in her mouth and spraying out as she tried to speak. "The Emperor…h…he did th…this to me. Ritual…children…" she shook her head and closed her eyes then, seemingly getting more upset and losing energy fast. "He m…must be stopped. Immor…immortality ritual…Dro…Dromund Kaas. Temple. His power…terrible, ter…terrible power."

She looked up at Gavin then with obvious sorrow. "I ne….never wanted…I'm so sorry…Mand…alorian. Stop the Emperor. Kill him."

Ferry and Gavin both felt her reject the dark side of the Force as she finally died.


End file.
